7 week old Bun with head all the way back...advice??

shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
Rabbit Talk Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
C

calicoty

New member
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Ohio
I have 5 7-week old California Rabbits. I just found one of them (the smallest) laying with her head in the feed and when I took her out she's moving but is keeping her head all the way back, with her ears near her back. (I should go take a pic) I can move her head forward, but she just puts it back. I don't see any other symptoms.

Is this wryneck or something else. Besides rushing to the vet, is there something I might be able to do??

This is our first and oldest litter. I have another litter that is 1 week old.

Thanks, Rickki
calicoty
 
I'll try to be of what help I can till some others here can reply.

Wry neck can be cause by a number of things including injury, a bad infection in the inner (or outer) ear, a disease caused by microsporidia, and likely other things. Treatment with an antibiotic might solve the problem if it is from infection.

The question is, is it worth it? Most of the time, unless a young kit is a pet, is destined to be a show champion, or a is an integral part of a breeding program, it is not worth saving. It might be best put down if it doesn't recover on it's own, quickly. Sure you want to save it, but a vet visit is expensive, and if either you or the vet bring it back to health with antibiotics, do you really want to eat it? Do you want to breed out of an animal that is more susceptible to disease than it siblings?

I would wait and see others opinions, but I think you must ask yourself, "Do I really have a use for this animal even if I can bring it back to health, and if so how much is it worth to me? If you are raising pets, that may sound sort of cold hearted, if you are a farmer or a homesteader, it is part of life.
 
We're homesteaders, that's why I wanted to avoid the vet. Also, not to sound cold, but I'm concerned that there is a bigger issue that I need to isolate. I don't want the whole litter having this happen. And on the other side of the rabbitry, I just had another California kindle 8 more. She has what looks like 2 runts. (This one is the runt of the other litter). We practice good biosecurity as best as you can in a barn, but we have wild birds that get in, and we had a problem with a rat a few weeks back (though that is currently taken care of) We also have a 9 year old....

Thanks for any and all advice. These are our first two litters.

Rickki
 
Rickki, I do understand your concern about a larger problem, but most times problems like this turn out to be "just one of those things" and no other rabbits come down with it. Act as though it is highly contagious but hope for the best.

Care for that cage of fryers cage after all your others, then care for the sick one and then wash/disinfect your hands and arms/change clothing. If the sick one does not improve soon, I agree with AVD... best to put it down.
 
Could be wry neck. Did you notice before the head back thing if this rabbit was sort of stumbling and couldn't keep its balance for a bit? That can be the first sign of wry neck, then the head tilts. At least it was in the case I had. Are you noticing any breathing issues such as weezing, gasping, laboured, anything out of the norm? Rabbits that have pneumonia or a really bad cold will put their heads waaay back to ease breathing. I had a working doe do this when she had pneumonia (or so I suspect), she did recover and go on to have many more litters.
 
I would follow Maggies advice. It is always best to isolate an obviously sick or hurt animal at once, and then to tighten ones sanitary procedures as she suggested. Still, there is no use in assumming the worst. I am a cross-breeder of rabbits, searching for health and vitality. I have found that about around 3% of the rabbits i raise have allergy issues. Due to the serious nature of Pasteurella, we all cringe and are immediately put on gaurd by a sneezing rabbit. I do not breed using rabbits with allergies, it is another thing that I wish to not pass on, but I have learned that to immediately get freaked out because one of my rabbits sneezed is not necessary. In every case I have been able to duplicate the cause (it has always turned out to be hay). I have a wire dog cage/kennel that I set up in my garage to quarantine sick or new animals. Most anything will work, the secret is to keep it a good distance away from the other animals, and take care of the animal in it last when you make your rounds. There are very few things that your children can catch from rabbits, so the health issues are usually not a problem.
 
This sounds more like marian mentioned and not wry neck. A rabbit with its had straight back is not breathing properly. Could be a bacterial pneumonia that developed. Anyways wry neck causes the head to twist sideways so one eye is looking at the ground and one eys straight up. A head thrown back is either lack of oxygen , seizure; severe injury or such like. It can also be a sign of severe coccidiosis infection, have they been treated yet? Its easier to prevent that than to cure it. If the cocci have traveled up to the lungs/brain this is what you may see.
 
If you put the rabbit down, you should open it up and check the internal organs for signs of problems. If the lungs are not bright healthy pink it could mean pneumonia. If the liver is spotty it could mean coccidiosis. Of course, if you have never butchered a rabbit, you may not know what to look for... just do your best and remember what you see so you can compare to butchered fryers later on. what you learn from this unhappy episode will help you down the road.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top